stewarding our gifts
Hey friends!! Happy Wednesday! We are halfway through the week - I hope your workweek, days at home with kiddos, days spent in school, or however you are spending your week has some joy mixed in the daily chaos.
Lately, I have been learning more deeply the Biblical concept of stewarding the gifts God has given to us.
“Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.”
James 1:17 NLT
I often operate selfishly, out of pride or my own competence. Truly, I need to step back & recognize anything good in my life & all of my abilities & gifts are from the Lord. It is so easy to pat myself on the back when I get a 4.0 in my class, or beat a new mile time on a run, or successfully manage a busy work week. Really, these things are done by God’s work in me, & the gifts He has blessed me with.
So how do I actually live this out in my daily life? Well, I am learning & obviously I don’t do this perfectly. I have felt humbled physically from time to time over the last few years. I had pericarditis in 2021, and managed effects & symptoms from that, & was not able to do everything I wanted. In April of this year, I sat in a hospital room finishing a stress echo. Over the previous month, I had a cardiac MRI, and another countless EKG. After I changed out of the hospital gown, feeling like myself again in street clothes, I said goodbye to the technician that did my testing that day. I have some medical experience & sometimes my knowledge gives way to worry & I asked way too many questions throughout that day’s test. I continued to acknowledge that the tech couldn’t tell me anything, I had to wait for my cardiologist’s interpretation. I watched my heart rate, blood pressure, & rhythm strip with curiosity, worrying that it was normal.
As I was getting ready to leave, the technician smiled and said, “Well, you know I can’t tell you details, but you did amazing, you are strong, go run a marathon this year.” That was all I needed to hear. The phone call from my cardiologist a few days later confirming everything looked great was just a formality.
I had never really grasped the concept of “taking things for granted” before having a personal life disruption that rocked my world enough to slow my daily life. While having heart symptoms, I spent 2 months not being able to run, every breath hurting, & being in too much pain to lay down - so I slept sitting up in a recliner or the couch. Of course, just like I’m sure you have, I had seen lots of hurt, health changes, disappointments, sicknesses in family & friends around me. But this really struck my pride, & selfishly made me want to spiral into pity & anger. I ran 2 half marathons in the 6-8 months after recovering from pericarditis. I wanted to think, “wow, look how strong I am”, “look what I was capable of doing.” But it wasn’t me. It was God that gave me the ability to be strong, the breath in my lungs & strength in my legs & mental tenacity. God gave me the gift of health & strength & I need to recognize that, thanking Him & caring for my body well.
The last several weeks I had a respiratory infection, & several different symptoms that I should have slowed down for. This week, a sweet friend reminded me that it really isn’t honorable to be pushing through so hard or not slowing down to rest. I’m busy, I know you get it. We all are busy. I work full time & often more than 40 hours a week, am in school full time, & am thankful to sustain lots of relationships, while these full days often lead to sleeping 4-6 a night regularly, being tired or forgetting to eat, falling short of responsibilities when I try to keep too many plates spinning. We all have a lot going on, people that depend on us, jobs to work, life to live, children that need us, it’s hard to remember to meet our own needs. What if I told you stewarding your body & meeting your needs, stopping to thank the Lord for what He has given us is truly honorable & good?
Most recently, I have been convicted of recognizing that God has brought goodness & capabilities into my life, & I need to honor & thank Him for that by serving & caring for my body well. I can steward my gifts well by sharing His light to others in encouragement, reading His Word. I can also take care of my physical body & prioritize sleeping enough, feeling gratitude when I’m able to run, recognizing the immense joy of being strong instead of feeling like I deserve to or should be able to. I am incapable of doing anything without Christ. He created each of us in His image, & all these good & perfect things are from Him.
Will you work on this with me, friends? Look around you & see what abilities, strengths, & joys God has given you…how are you reflecting on HIS goodness & thanking Him for these good things?